5 ms·

Well, the diagram is impossible unless the weights are all resting on the floor, so let's assume they are. This system will find a steady state only at a local

Well, the diagram is impossible unless the weights are all resting on the floor, so let's assume they are. This system will find a steady state only at a local minimum of potential energy, so the lightest weight will be lifted before the heavier two get off the ground.

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psycocoffey 16y ago
Assumptions: pulleys: idealized, massless, frictionless rope: idealized, massless, doesn't stretch weights: resting on ground. As tension is applied to the rope, Weight A will be lifted first, until it is lifted to the ceiling. Then Weight B, and finally Weight A. It helps to visualize Weight A as being massless. In that case, there would just be extra slack in the rope, and B&C would not move until the slack was taken in.
- dkokelley 16y ago
  * Then Weight B, and finally Weight A.* I believe you meant C, correct?
  - psycocoffey 16y ago
    Yes, I meant C. Too late to go and fix it now. Good catch
- csmeder 16y ago
  Ever lower milk prices were driving a dairy farmer to desperate measures. Two years ago, he tried "Beethoven for Bovines" in his barn and milk production dropped 2%. Last year he signed up for "hex the herd" where Genuine Santa Barbara WitchesTM remotely hexed your herd for health and higher production. (The ad had said its hexes were the cause of California's improved milk production, but it didn't seem to work in Wisconsin.) So this year he drove to town to consult the ultimate power source: a theoretical physicist. The physicist listened to his problem, asked a few questions, and then said he'd take the assignment, and that it would take only a few hours to solve the problem. A few weeks later, the physicist phoned the farmer, "I've got the answer. The solution turned out to be a bit more complicated than I thought and I'm presenting it at this afternoon's Theory Seminar". At the seminar the farmer finds a handful of people drinking tea and munching on cookies---none of whom looks like a farmer. As the talk begins the physicist approaches the blackboard and draws a big circle. "First, we assume a spherical cow..." [Clemens: QH541.15.M34 1985] - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/093570258X/ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/093570258X/
doki_pen 16y ago
huh.. i didn't think of them resting on the ground and thought it was a trick question.
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psycocoffey 16y ago

Assumptions: pulleys: idealized, massless, frictionless rope: idealized, massless, doesn't stretch weights: resting on ground. As tension is applied to the rope, Weight A will be lifted first, until it is lifted to the ceiling. Then Weight B, and finally Weight A. It helps to visualize Weight A as being massless. In that case, there would just be extra slack in the rope, and B&C would not move until the slack was taken in.

dkokelley 16y ago
* Then Weight B, and finally Weight A.* I believe you meant C, correct?
- psycocoffey 16y ago
  Yes, I meant C. Too late to go and fix it now. Good catch
csmeder 16y ago
Ever lower milk prices were driving a dairy farmer to desperate measures. Two years ago, he tried "Beethoven for Bovines" in his barn and milk production dropped 2%. Last year he signed up for "hex the herd" where Genuine Santa Barbara WitchesTM remotely hexed your herd for health and higher production. (The ad had said its hexes were the cause of California's improved milk production, but it didn't seem to work in Wisconsin.) So this year he drove to town to consult the ultimate power source: a theoretical physicist. The physicist listened to his problem, asked a few questions, and then said he'd take the assignment, and that it would take only a few hours to solve the problem. A few weeks later, the physicist phoned the farmer, "I've got the answer. The solution turned out to be a bit more complicated than I thought and I'm presenting it at this afternoon's Theory Seminar". At the seminar the farmer finds a handful of people drinking tea and munching on cookies---none of whom looks like a farmer. As the talk begins the physicist approaches the blackboard and draws a big circle. "First, we assume a spherical cow..." [Clemens: QH541.15.M34 1985] - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/093570258X/ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/093570258X/

doki_pen 16y ago

huh.. i didn't think of them resting on the ground and thought it was a trick question.

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